St John’s Loses to Incarnate Word (Who?) By An Embarrassing Total

Geoff Magliocchetti 10:16 am, December 19th, 2015

Brace yourselves....the declarations that Our Lady of the Lake should get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament are coming.

The University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals had played the aforementioned NAIA school three days before traveling to Carnesecca Arena to take on the storied Red Storm program at St. John's, a Big East school that is not even a year removed from an NCAA Tournament berth. The Cardinals fell 99-97 to that in-state opponent, so the outlook didn't look to good for the San Antonio, Texas based school competing in merely its third year of Division I play.

However, not only did the Cardinals weather the Red Storm, they silenced it entirely.

Sophomores Derail Green and Jontrell Walker respectively tallied 24 and 20 points, pacing the Cardinals to not just earn a win over the Red Storm, but a resounding 73-51 final on Friday night in Queens. It was the Red Storm's first ever loss to a Southland Conference opponent.

Unlike the victors on Friday night, St John's entered the game on a three game winning streak, with last of the trio coming over in-state rival and former Big East neighbor Syracuse on Sunday. However, the Red Storm couldn't replicate that success against the Cardinals, hitting just 19 baskets on the evening. UIW went on a 12-2 run to end the opening half, which changed the course of the game. The Cardinals went into the halftime break up 35-26, never looking back the rest of the way en route to victory.

Members of the Southland Conference, Incarnate Word join Division I basketball in 2013, transitioning from Division II. They reached the Division II tournament three times, the last appearance coming in 2010. As part of their transition, they are ineligible for play in the NCAA Tournament until 2018, though they did show up in last season's CollegeInsiders.com Postseason Tournament last season, falling to Louisiana-Lafayette in the first round.

UIW will return to action on Tuesday night, remaining the NYC area to take on LIU-Brooklyn at 7:00 PM. Check out highlights of the St. John's game here...

Geoff Magliocchetti, as a Villanova fan, remembers when the Cats lost to Chaminade. Reminisce when your team got upset on Twitter @GeoffMags5490.